FixMeStick: Self propelled virus removal gadget

Viruses, Trojans and any other “nastyware” that infect your computer are never a good thing and once they get in it’s sometimes really hard to get them out. Even worse, trying to run removal software can sometimes be a challenge.

Enter FixMeStick, a self-propelled hardware-based virus removal gadget that runs directly from a USB thumb drive, from a Montreal based company of the same name. There’s no software to install. All you have to do is insert it in your USB port of your PC, double-click the FixMeStick executable from the FixMeStick drive and you’re off to the races. It’s that simple.

Launching the application will actually reboot your machine. It’s cleverly designed so that your computer will then boot from it. It uses LiveUSB architecture, Lubuntu a lightweight version of Ubuntu as its operating system executing anti-virus engines from Kaspersky Labs, Sophos, and GFI VIPRE. It runs before Windows boots so the nasties can be attacked while they are sleeping.

FixMeStick 2.0

For those of you already familiar with the product, the latest version offers a number of significant enhancements. The first one is more cosmetic in nature. They’ve actually slimmed-down the case and added a hook so that you can put it on a chain. Second, it offers enhanced detection as the three malware engines have been reconfigured to catch more malware. Third, a file will only be quarantined only if all 3 engines fail to clean an infected file. This is a fundamental change since the original offering was designed to quarantine any infected file and thus not allowing all the engines an opportunity to have a go at it. In some cases, they discovered the file was a critical system file causing the computer to become unbootable. Making this change increased the chances that the file could be cleaned before this situation occurred..

In any event you could certainly choose to undo the quarantine and restore the original files

Built-in Remote Support

Finally, this latest version offers built-in remote support. In the event that your PC becomes unbootable, all you have to do is launch the app, hit Ctrl-Alt-R and make sure you’re connected to the Internet. Then, the FixMeStick folks will remotely connect to your PC and help resolve any issues.

FixMeStick retails for $59.99 USD. You can run the software as often as you want on up to 3 different PC’s for a period of 1-year. It includes automatic free updates. Renewals, or recharges as they are referred to, are $59.99 USD. If you are in a large computer environment, FixMeStick Pro $299.99 USD works on an unlimited number of PC’s for a year!

FixMeStick will run on any PC running any version of Windows that has at least 512MB of Ram.

Currently,, the company is offering free shipping if purchased directly from their website.